A life of conversion. One prayer at a time.

Read and Stitch: The Quick and The Thread

Didn’t I promise that Tiffany and I would be up to some stuffs this year? We both love to read and love all things needlecraft. We thought to combine them, much like the sub-genre, “Cozy Craft & Hobby Mysteries” with a book review and the progress of our latest projects.

As a “this just in, news flash” I was recently interviewed about my role as a working mother by Erin McCole Cupp to promote her historical fiction ebook, “Working Mother“. If you haven’t picked up a copy you should, it’s a quick read and it’s a perspective changer (for men and blended families as well, not just working mothers). You can get a sense of what it must have been like for Mary – the original working mother – to manage and balance the needs of her family emotionally, spiritually and financially. Some things never change. Head over for the interview and more on her book.

I just finished that cozy mystery I wrote about recently, The Quick and The Thread by Amanda Lee (isn’t that a great play on words?!). The book was great because I could see myself in it. The main character, Marcy, recently moved to a small town in Oregon to open up an embroidery specialty shop, The Seven Year Stitch (I mean the play on words, I love it). She heads next door for her favorite latte (vanilla, non-fat milk and cinnamon – YUM) and her dog, an Irish Wolfhound named Angus O’Ruff, hangs with her in the shop. On opening night, she throws a great party with the help of the owners of the coffee shop down the street. The owners are a couple, Sadie and Blake Mackenzie. Sadie and Marcy are best friends. In fact, Sadie told her the storefront was available to be leased.

The party is a success and people are interested in the needle craft classes, her sign in sheets are filling up. All is right in the world – except this man who is drunk and trying to talk to her. He was the previous tenant of the storefront she is leasing. Of course, she avoids him. The very next day she opens the shop, and that drunk-previous-tenant-guy? DEAD.in.her.storeroom. He left an unfinished, nonsense message on the wall using a tapestry needle. Dun dun duuuuun! Then someone else is murdered, just after speaking with poor Marcy. Not one to wait around, she starts investigating because of course, she’s a suspect. I loved the twists and turns, and the characters, especially Vera. You would LOVE Vera. She’s a dollface. The dialogue was witty and easy to follow. I finished this book in 6 days. I would have finished it sooner, only I was working on my own cross stitch project.

We all have little daydreams, don’t we? Some we share, some we keep to ourselves partly because we like to detail them out in our heads, and mostly because we are afraid of what others will think of our “silly notions”. I’ll share, since you asked. I would love to open up my own cross stitch shop. I could hold classes and have a sit-and-stitch a couple of nights a week. I would order supplies, kits and patterns and would act like a kid on Christmas morning when they were delivered, only to get more excited at arranging the hoops, needles and kits to showcase my favorites.

Isn’t that lovely? Doesn’t that sound like a dream job?

My husband and I frequently talk about what we’d do if we ever received a large sum of money, like from a lottery or inheritance (we have more chance with the lottery). We talk about how we would never leave the area we live in, how we would live the same way we do now, pay off all of of our school loans and never worry about the kids college tuition. And now, I can add opening cross-stitch shop to that mix.

I’ve been steadily working on my first cross-stitch project and it’s almost finished. Not to worry, I have two more projects on the way. If you’re not following along on Instagram, here’s the progress so far on my first project:

That empty box means that I haven’t finished it yet. There’s a border around the lettering that needs to be there, then I have to backstitch the around the flowers and leaves, and then stitch up some green tendrils in around the edges, curling inside and outside the border. Kind of like dreams, we’re never finished, right?

As I stitch, I listen to podcasts, but mostly, I let my mind wander as I daydream and “think all the thinks I can think”.

Do you have any daydreams that you don’t share for fear of the reaction you’d get? If you like cozy mysteries, why not join me! There are 8 in the series (the eighth book, Wicked Stitch is available for pre-order with a release date of 4/7/2015) You know I already have the second book waiting patiently on my tablet! For more on the author, whose real name is Gayle Trent, head to her author website here. I only found this series because I started cross stitching, so thanks to Amazon for throwing this in my “recommend” list!

I love it all so much! Those titles crack me up. It reminds me of the first time I heard of the hair salon “Curl Up and Dye”. It makes me appreciate clever people and humanity in general, though I don’t always appreciate humanity 🙂

Hello, my name is Cristina. I am a working mother, wife and Catholic convert living an unequally yoked marriage. I am also a writer and social media addict. Sound like I have my hands full? They are, so it helps that I make the best faith cocktails around: equal parts faith, humor and charity. Stick around, I may just surprise ya.